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Soon they found a Gryphon asleep in the sun . A gryphon is a creature from old stories , with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion . “ Get up , you lazy thing ! ” said the Queen . “ Take this young lady to see the Mock Turtle . I must go back and make sure those heads are cut off . ” And off she went . The Gryphon watched her go and laughed . “ What fun ! ” it said . “ It’s all in her head . They never really cut off anybody’s head , you know . Come on ! ” Soon they saw the Mock Turtle sitting all alone on a rock . He was sighing as if his heart was breaking . “ This young lady wants to hear your story , ” the Gryphon told him . “ I’ll tell it to her , ” said the Mock Turtle in a low , sad voice . “ Sit down , both of you , and don’t say a word until I’ve finished . ” Then there was a long silence . At last he said with a deep sigh , “ Once I was a real Turtle . ” There was another long silence . Alice nearly got up and thanked him for the story , but she felt sure there must be more . “ As a child , ” the Mock Turtle went on at last , “ I had lessons at a school in the sea . Our teacher was an old Turtle . We called him Tortoise . ” “ But why Tortoise , if he was a Turtle ? ” asked Alice . “ We called him Tortoise because he taught us ! ” said the Mock Turtle crossly . “ Really , you are slow ! ” In English , “ taught us ” sounds almost like “ tortoise ” . “ We had the very best teaching , ” he went on proudly . “ Reeling and Writhing , and all kinds of sums : Ambition , Distraction , Uglification and Derision . ” These were his funny names for Reading and Writing , and for Addition , Subtraction , Multiplication and Division . “ And how many hours of lessons did you have a day ? ” asked Alice . “ Ten on the first day , ” said the Mock Turtle . “ Then nine , then eight , and so on . ” “ That’s why they’re called lessons , ” said the Gryphon , “ because they lessen every day . ” “ Lessen ” means “ get smaller ” , and it sounds just like “ lesson ” . Alice thought about this . “ So the eleventh day was a holiday ? ” “ Of course , ” said the Mock Turtle . “ And what did you do on the twelfth ? ” “ That’s enough about lessons , ” said the Gryphon firmly . “ Tell her about the games now . ” X . The Lobster Dance The Mock Turtle sighed deeply and wiped his eyes with a flipper . “ Perhaps you have never met a lobster , ” he said to Alice . “ I once tasted . . . ” Alice began , but she stopped just in time . “ No , never , ” she said . “ Then you have no idea how lovely the Lobster Quadrille is ! ” A quadrille is an old dance for couples , and the Mock Turtle began to explain it . “ You stand in two lines on the beach : seals , turtles , salmon and so on . Each of you dances with a lobster . Then you throw the lobsters out to sea , as far as you can . . . ” “ And swim after them ! ” shouted the Gryphon . “ And do a somersault in the water ! ” cried the Mock Turtle .
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